450G, Do you measure from the top or bottom of brake pedal?

Put a ruler on brake pedal and had 10 in from top and 13 in from bottom of brake pedal to fire wall. Book says 11 in when pushed in by hand and pedal is hard. I thought they might be too tight. I have to push very hard to turn tractor. Thanks

My 650G is measured from the bottom of the petal, forward to 'firewall', with tape parallel to the floor.

If steering is really hard (loads engine?) then the clutches are probably not disengaging before brakes engage. Have you done the 'immovable object' test in the manual? You should be able to disengage the clutch before the brake engages. If not, loosen the brakes. Or, adjust the clutches. The manual is quite good at explaining this. Since you are at 13" at the bottom, and normal should let the pedal drop to 11", yes, you probably need to loosen the brakes.

You may need to adjust the clutches. The manual on my 650G says clutches should start disengaging at 1" pedal movement.

I fought hard steering with mine for several days. Adjustment had supposedly been done at the dealer but later I found out an inexperienced mechanic had been sent to do the job. The dealer came out to readjust, improved but not fixed. So I got out my manual and followed it and now the 650G steers great.

Bob (still a newbee at 50 hours in the seat!)

lobo said:

Put a ruler on brake pedal and had 10 in from top and 13 in from bottom of brake pedal to fire wall. Book says 11 in when pushed in by hand and pedal is hard. I thought they might be too tight. I have to push very hard to turn tractor. Thanks

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It does not load engine when turning. I think my hand pushed in 2 to 3 in before pedal got hard. I will recheck that distance and do some more reading. As you say I may need to adjust clutch to start disengaging at 1 in. That makes a lot of sense. I love this tractor and it only has 3000 hrs so it should steer easier. I have been asking about this problem for 2 yrs and you my friend may have solved my problem. Being my first dozer I did not know if this was normal. It is going to be nice this weekend so I will get back to you with my results. Thanks for taking the time to explain everything so well to me. Randy still a newbee at 100 hrs.

I rechecked distance and found 10 in. on top and 12 in. on bottom not 13. So I loosened each side about 6 clicks so that gave me 11 in at bottom center of each brake pedal. Ground was wet so I did not get to try her out like I wanted to. However at low rpm in 1st. she started to turn with very little pressure applied to pedal. I think my hard steering problems are over. Thanks again Bob.

Fingers crossed for you! It has been too wet for me to work, too.

The adjustment process sounds backwards: If the brakes don't work, loosen them Of course the idea is to let the clutches do their job before the brakes kick in.

Bob

I ran the dozer a little yesterday and my steering problem is fixed. My brakes still stop the machine very well and it will turn with a third of the pressure it took before. Thanks again Bob.

Glad that worked for you. It's just about dry enough here to get back to moving dirt.

Bob